The elusive street artist Banksy embarked upon a month-long exhibition throughout the streets of New York on Tuesday, but so far his new pieces are being damaged and covered up mere hours after they appear. The works are appearing daily as part of an "entire show" called Better Out Than In, which he announced on his website after leaving clues on posters in Los Angeles.

His first piece cropped up on October 1 in Allen Street in lower Manhattan. Called The Street Is In Play, it depicts two boys holding a spray can. However, local Banksy fans - and those who had travelled more than 100 miles to the city - were disappointed to find it had been painted over by Wednesday when they went to visit the site. Banksy is posting pictures of his new work through an Instagram account called Banksyny, which has 18,000 followers so far.

The covered-up Banksy piece in Allen Street, New York City (Twitter.com/streetartnews)

The artist, who is originally from Bristol, has also provided a satirical audio tour to accompany his pieces, which can be accessed by telephone and correctly predicted that viewers "maybe [won't be looking at it], it has probably been painted over by now." There is no information about who has painted over the work, with some viewers suggesting it is the work of city officials or rival artists. A roller was left underneath the painting, perhaps by the person who had covered it up.

On October 2, another appeared on a garage door on Manhattan's arty Chelsea in the West of the city. In a script similar to that used in the early graffiti scene in New York, Banksy had painted: "This is my New York accent" and in a smaller, neater brushscript: "...normally I write like this".

The Banksy piece which appeared in October 2 was later vandalised. (Banksy)

However, this second piece was damaged a day after it was completed. A graffiti artist had used marker or spray paint to 'tag' the work using their street identity. Traditionally in the street art world there are conflicts between grafitti artists, who tag public buildings, and street artists who paint larger murals or pieces on them.

In the UK, Banksy's pieces have been removed and even accidentally destroyed by dealers and collectors. They can often reach millions on the art market. In July, residents of Tottenham were angered when the No Ball Games piece was removed from Turnpike Lane and sold at a charity auction by the Sincura Group. The same group had removed Banksy's 2012 Jubilee-themed piece, Slave Labour, the month before.